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XML Prague 2012 – the venue

The seventh edition of XML Prague will be different in a couple of respects. The most visible change is perhaps the new venue. Our little conference has always been connected to the Lesser Town campus of Charles University. The beautiful building just a few steps from primary Prague’s tourist attractions has been the conference home since 2005. And it was a perfect home – until we have reached its limits. The maximum capacity of 140 people was no problem for the early editions (2005 – 2009), but it became a weakness in the recent years. In 2010, the conference was sold out two months before it started. And in 2011, the last available seats were taken before we announced the speakers and sessions.
While the growing interest was nice it was pretty frustrating to reply to a number of disappointed people that they really could not register. Unless we wanted to turn XML Prague into a closed meeting for the same group of people it was the time to increase the capacity.

Unfortunately, the Lesser Town campus has no larger lecture hall than S5 we have been using. Reluctantly, we have had to look for a new venue. The help has come from Economical University in Prague which has got modern facilities with several large lecture halls. The largest one – Vencovského aula – can accommodate 425 people. This is where XML Prague will take place in 2012.

The new venue is still in the down town of Prague, in a walking distance from the Wenceslas Square and the Central Train Station. The surrounding area – Žižkov – is rich in authentic pubs and restaurants. We hope that the change of our traditional venue will be understood as a necessary step forward, and that the regular and new participants will find their way to the new place.